Bullying of any kind will not be tolerated within my service.
This includes:
· Physical : pushing, kicking, hitting, biting etc
· Verbal: name-calling, sarcasm, rumour spreading and teasing
· Emotional: excluding, ridicule, humiliation, tormenting
· Racist: taunts, graffiti and gestures
Any incidents which I feel could be classed as bullying, shall be dealt with as much discretion as possible.
I take the following steps to prevent bullying from occuring in my service:
· I promote and nurture friendships between all the children in my care.
· I promote and award good behaviour and discourage negative behaviour. Please see my behaviour management policy.
· I try to create a sense of belonging and discourage the isolation of any individual children by others.
If I have any concerns that a child in my care is being bullied at nursery or school, I will discuss the matter with you immediately. I will work with you and your child to resolve the problem. With your support I will:
· Reassure them that the bullying is not their fault
· Tell them that I care about them and am 100% on their side
· Give them lots of praise, encouragement and responsibilities to help them feel valued
· Work with you to help the child to develop techniques to deal with the bully, for example being assertive, walking away etc.
If I have any concerns that your child in bullying another child, I will again discuss the matter with you immediately and work with you and your child to resolve the problem. With your support I will:
· Reassure your child that I still care about them but it is their behaviour I don’t like and I will work with them to help change this
· Work with your child to find ways to make amends for their actions
· Develop a reward structure for good behaviour.
· Discuss the matter with you, not in front of your child, to see if there are any problems that may have triggered the bullying.
If you have any concerns or suspect your child is being bullying or is bullying another child, please discuss them with me as soon as possible. It is much better to deal with these problems before they become major issues